A video ad on Facebook or Instagram has to work in several very different places at once: a feed scrolled with the sound off, a full-screen Reel, a Story tapped past in seconds. My job is to plan campaigns and write briefs so the footage your team, freelancer or creator produces is shaped for the placement it runs in, has one clear job, and is judged on enquiries and sales rather than views.
Who video ads suit
Video earns its cost when the product is easier to show than to describe. A cleaning product working on a stained hob, a hairdresser finishing a cut, a joiner fitting a kitchen, a founder explaining why their skincare range exists: each of these says more in ten seconds of footage than a still image and a headline can. Video also suits businesses with a long decision, because people who watch most of an ad are telling you they are interested, and you can show them a follow-up later.
It suits you less if you cannot produce new footage every few weeks, if your offer is a simple price-led promotion that a static image explains perfectly well, or if your budget is too small to test more than one or two ads at once. In those cases I would usually start with images and add video once something is working. If most of your customers are on Instagram and you want that channel run as a whole, Instagram ads management is the better fit; this page is about the video format across both apps.
Formats and where each one runs
Meta shows the same video in very different settings, and an ad cut for one often fails in another. These are the placements I plan for most often.
| Placement | Shape | How people watch | What it does well |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facebook and Instagram feeds | 4:5 portrait or 1:1 square | Scrolling past, often with sound off | Short demonstrations with captions, offers, social proof |
| Reels | 9:16 full screen | Swiping between short clips, audio is part of the format | Native-looking clips, creator-style content, quick tutorials |
| Stories | 9:16 full screen | Tapping through in a few seconds | One message, one action, often a reminder to people who already know you |
| Facebook in-stream | 16:9 or square inside longer videos | Already watching something, waiting for it to resume | Longer explanations for audiences prepared to sit through them |
I supply edit notes for a vertical master and a 4:5 version as a minimum, so Meta is never left to crop a landscape clip into a full-screen slot. Text and logos are kept inside the safe zone of each placement, so the caption, profile name and buttons do not cover them.
The creative structure that keeps people watching
Most video ads lose their audience in the opening seconds, long before the offer appears. I brief every ad in three parts, and I write the brief so your editor can cut several versions from the same footage.
The opening
The first frame has to show the product, the problem or a person speaking directly to camera. Logos, slow pans and title cards belong later, if at all. I measure this with hook rate, the share of impressions that turn into a three-second view, and I usually test two or three different openings on the same body before changing anything else.
The middle
This is where the viewer decides whether to believe you: the product in use, a before and after, a customer explaining what changed, or the price and what it includes. It should be specific to your business, filmed in your premises or with your stock, rather than generic footage anyone could buy.
The ending
One action, said and shown: book a table, get a quote, shop the range. The ad button repeats it, so the final frame does not need to shout.
Sound, captions and music
Every ad carries burned-in captions, because plenty of people watch without sound. Music needs care: a track that is fine in an organic Reel may not be licensed for use in an ad, so I ask for music from Meta’s Sound Collection or a track you hold a commercial licence for.
How a video campaign is built
- Review what you already have. Old product videos, phone footage and organic Reels that did well often contain usable openings. I list what can be recut before anything new is filmed.
- Write the briefs. For each concept: the audience, the opening options, the proof, the action, the lengths and the shapes needed, plus a shot list for anything missing.
- Check the tracking. A video campaign judged on views alone will find people who like watching videos. I confirm the Meta Pixel and Conversions API record real enquiries or purchases before spend starts.
- Build the structure. Prospecting campaigns optimised for the action you want, with video as the main creative, and a video view audience of people who watched most of an ad feeding a follow-up campaign through Facebook retargeting.
- Test openings first, then concepts. Small numbers of ads per ad set, so each one gets enough spend to tell you something.
- Read the drop-off and refresh. I compare hook rate, ThruPlay and the play-through quartiles with cost per result, and brief replacements before creative fatigue pushes costs up.
Mistakes I see in video accounts
- Optimising for video views and calling it success. Cheap views rarely turn into customers. Views are a diagnostic, not the goal, unless the campaign is genuinely about awareness and is measured that way.
- One landscape edit used everywhere. It shrinks to a strip in Stories and Reels and looks like an advert from the first frame.
- A brand film used as a direct-response ad. Beautiful footage with the product appearing at second twenty loses most viewers before it matters.
- Testing too many videos at once. With a modest budget, eight ads in one ad set means most of them never get enough spend to be judged.
- Claims that would not survive a complaint. Testimonials must be genuine, results typical or clearly qualified, and filters must not exaggerate what a product does. The CAP Code applies to video ads just as it does to print.
- Sending viewers to a weak page. A strong video followed by a slow, generic homepage wastes the attention it earned. A landing page built for the campaign usually fixes more than another round of edits.
What you receive
- A creative plan listing each concept, the audience it is for and the result it should drive.
- Written briefs, shot lists and edit notes your team or freelancer can work from, with the lengths and shapes required.
- Campaigns built in your own ad account, with tracking checked before launch.
- A monthly report showing results by video and placement, which openings held attention, and what I am asking to be cut next.
- A test log, so the lessons about what your customers watch stay with your business.
If you want the whole account run, with video as one part of it, Facebook ads management covers every campaign type. If you also plan to run video on YouTube, I can brief both from the same shoot, and YouTube advertising explains how those campaigns differ.
Pricing and next step
Ad spend is paid by you straight to Meta, in pounds, from your own ad account. My fee covers planning, briefing, building and running the campaigns, and I quote it after seeing your account, the footage you already have and how often new creative will be needed. Recutting an existing library is a smaller job than briefing a fresh shoot every month, so I do not publish a single price.
Send me two or three of your existing videos through the contact page and I will tell you which placement each one suits, what I would change in the first three seconds, and whether video is the right place for your budget yet.